Family Feud: The Breakthrough
by LadyCressa
Summary: Set in the Family Feud A/U. Gohan's perspective of the night he learned about his mother's true heritage and the training they started up together. Canon pairings, mentions of Goku and Chichi. As always, read and review please! (This is my tenth posted fanfic!)


_If you have not yet read my fanfic "The Family that Fights Together Stays Together" (alternately titled Family Feud), you could either start here or read Chapters 1-3 of that first. It works either way. This is_ _Gohan's perspective on seeing his mother's true heritage for the first time and the training they start up together._ _The events of this one shot happen concurrently with the events of Chapters 1-3 of "Family Feud"._

 _**_ I do not own Dragon Ball or any characters and do not profit in anyway off of this fan made work.**

* * *

 _ **Family Feud:**_

 _ **The Breakthrough**_

After rolling out of bed, I automatically pulled some mismatched clothes on, too tired to pay very much attention to much of anything. I yawned and stretched and shuffled my feet into the kitchen.

I hadn't been sleeping well at all. My horrendous dreams of losing Dad over and over wouldn't let me. Nightmares generally weren't real, but the recurring nightmare yanking me out of my restless sleep in the middle of the night almost _every_ night very much _was_. I couldn't easily shake it and go back to sleep. Sleep was elusive and I was _exhausted_.

I had been since the battle.

Judging by Mom's slightly haggard appearance as she stood at the stove, she wasn't doing too much better.

I sighed miserably and dropped into a chair at the table.

She turned to face me. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She had been crying again – if the bags under eyes were anything to go by, probably most of the night. "Morning, Gohan."

"Morning, Mom."

Her tone lacked the usual brightness it carried, sounding rough and gravelly and hopeless. Mine wasn't much better.

My mother was actually a nice person contrary to what most people thought. She only yelled and screamed a lot because she didn't know how else to deal with the endless worry and stress knowing she could lose either myself or Dad whenever we left to fight.

She did always have a fiery temper – set off usually by Dad breaking something or making a mess.

That temper, along with that bright spark in her eyes had been absent all month.

Just the day before, she wouldn't even yell at me when I accidentally tracked some mud into the house after I got back from fishing. To be honest, she didn't really seem to notice at all. She just cleaned it like she was on autopilot, not even noticing when I grabbed a mop and helped her.

Watching her in the kitchen, there was no humming and very little emotion displayed on her face. She kept her tears hidden from me, but I knew. I always knew when she cried. And she had been almost every night. I knew because I could hear it, lying awake after that recurring nightmare struck again.

She carried the first couple of platters to the table and then went back for more. She cooked far too much again – enough to satisfy an endlessly hungry stomach belonging to a man absent from our table.

She seemed to realize as much as she placed the last platter on our crowded table and sighed.

In silence, we dished ourselves up and ate.

With some food in my stomach, I felt better. She seemed to as well. Her eyes looked just a little bit brighter as she carried her slightly larger than usual stack of dirty dishes to the sink.

There was a reason for her appetite increase – a reason she told me about just a couple of weeks after Cell.

She was pregnant.

Finding that out did seem to brighten her just a little bit more, but not much.

I reached out with my senses, checking on that tiny, bright spark of life and smiled slightly.

Mom walked past me, placing a gentle hand on my head briefly as she went by and headed upstairs.

I went to my room, deciding to get an early start on my studies. Depending on how algebra went, perhaps I could convince Mom to let me visit the dinosaurs on the other side of the mountains later. That sounded nice.

Working through the equations was a nice reprieve from the endless guilt and I quickly lost myself in the thick textbook resting open on my desk – my pencil scraping away in my notebook.

A couple of hours later, I had finally worked through the entire chapter and I didn't think my brain could take much more. I liked math but I did have to take a break sometimes. My stomach rumbled.

With impeccable timing, Mom walked in with a tray piled high with sandwiches on one side and cookies on the other and a tall glass of milk balanced in a corner along with a new geometry textbook tucked under an arm.

Surprisingly, she gave me a small smile as she put the tray and textbook on my desk. "Sandwiches and your favorite chocolate chip cookies for my hard-working boy. I am so proud of you, Gohan."

Her tone was brighter, along with her face. Her eyes were clear and brighter as well. Not as bright as usual, but it was a start.

I smiled back. "Heh… Thanks, Mom. I'm going to take a break for a little bit. Can I go see the dinosaurs? I'll be back by lunch."

She was quiet for a moment, deliberating, and then said, "Sure. Bring a fish back on your way home."

I flashed her an excited grin. "Got it! Thanks, Mom!"

I wolfed down my snack and jumped up to find my shoes and walked out the door and out into the quiet, peaceful forest, deciding just a quiet walk sounded nice. Pushing deep into the woods, I came to our favorite giant apple tree without really paying any attention. My feet were so familiar with all the paths in the forest that someone could take me deep into the woods blindfolded, turn me in circles, and I could still easily find my way home.

I flew up, deciding to pick an apple and flew to the other side of the mountains as I munched on it. The sound of the air rushing past my ears and the feel of it against my skin was exhilarating. Flying would never get old to me.

I sighed happily as I kicked in a burst of speed, eager to find Icarus and check on a pterodactyl family with a new clutch of eggs.

I had only been in the air a few minutes when the light purple dragon playfully snarled his hello, nearly tackling me out of the sky.

I giggled. "Hey, Buddy! How's it going!?"

Laughter was scarce in our house during that first month since the battle. I had to say it felt pretty good.

Icarus licked my cheek and I rubbed his rough, scaly head.

"Let's go flying, Icarus."

He joined me on my trip to visit the pterodactyl family with the new clutch of eggs.

We found them after a few minutes of flying and sat and watched – looking for any sign of hatching – but it was hard to see the eggs, since the female was sitting on them to keep them warm and safe. Her mate was nowhere to be seen right at that moment – most likely off hunting for his growing family.

As if on cue, her mate appeared, dropping a half-eaten, unidentifiable carcass beside her, which she snapped up gratefully and swallowed it in one huge gulp.

They nuzzled each other. Watching them and how happy they were together made me wonder if Mom and I would ever be that happy again.

My stomach growled and Icarus jumped.

"Heh… it's okay, Boy. It's just my stomach. I need to go home." I rubbed it for emphasis and Icarus seemed to get the gist of it.

We left our spot watching the nest and flew over the mountain the way we came.

A few minutes later, we landed in my front yard.

I rubbed Icarus's head. "Well, Buddy… I think it's best you head back into the woods. I don't want to make Mom mad. I'll try to bring you a snack later. We're doing fish tonight and you know how much you love that."

He licked my hand and flew away – toward the little cave he lived in a short distance from the house.

That reminded me. I had almost forgotten to go fishing. I sprang up into the air and rocketed toward the river that ran by our house – a river full of happy memories when our family was whole.

Reaching it, I landed and undressed to my boxers and stared out over the surface for a long moment, losing myself for a moment in those happy memories.

I saw Dad splashing with me in the gently flowing water when I was very small – before things got crazy. I saw Dad pulling Mom in more than once and chuckled to myself, remembering how mad she got but also how funny she looked waterlogged and how she laughed, too – especially when shemanaged to pull him in.

Many more memories flitted through my head of fishing with Dad while taking a break from training for the androids those three years and in the last week before the Cell Games.

Dad wouldn't want us to be sad. I meant that when I told Mom not to be sad when I broke the news to her after returning home when the battle was over. It still didn't take away that gnawing guilt because it was my fault Dad didn't come home.

I shook myself and refocused on catching our lunch. My eyes settled on one particularly large fish just visible beneath the surface. I dove in after it and let it lead me on a chase for a minute before darting forward and easily catching it.

I pulled it out of the water, its weight barely noticeable to me. I gave it one quick blow to the skull – killing it instantly – got dressed, and took it straight home.

After letting Mom know I was back, I cleaned it outside on a wide tree stump just like Dad used to.

Mom poked her head out to check my progress. "Ah! Just about finished, I see. How would you like it cooked, Gohan? I can fry it, bake it, make a stew, whatever you want."

"Is it okay if we roast it over an open fire?"

Brief sadness flashed across her face before responding. She gave me a small smile and a nod.

That was Dad's favorite way to cook fish and it was the only thing he could cook and very well at that. It was my favorite, too. And not just for the memories, though that was certainly part of it. The smoky flavor of the fish that only an open fire could infuse along with Mom's blend of spices was delicious.

As she walked back in, I sighed but got to work building a fire and assembling a spit – another thing Dad taught me.

Before long, I had the fish rotating on the spit, the sound of it sizzling and the smell of it made my stomach growl.

Having joined me outside at some point, Mom giggled slightly at my predicament as she placed a snack tray piled high with cured meats, cheeses, and vegetables next to me. "You are your father's son."

I rubbed the back of my neck as was habit – and realized what I was doing. "Heh… I guess you're right."

She seemed to notice my pose and laughed a small laugh, too.

She sat down next to me and we nibbled on the snack tray as our fish cooked. Periodically, Mom stepped into the house to check on the other food cooking in the kitchen.

Before too long, everything was ready and we sat down to a big, delicious meal.

Mom stuck a bite of fish in her mouth and sighed contentedly. "Great job on the fish, Gohan!"

"Heh… thanks, Mom!"

That was high praise coming from her – the best cook in the world.

She cooked way too much again and she seemed to notice it. Our stomachs were almost uncomfortably full, but it looked like we only put a small dent in the smorgasbord on our table.

She sighed. "Will you come with me to take some of this to Master Roshi's? I'm sure they'd appreciate a home cooked meal."

"Of course! Icarus loves fish. Can I take some to him, too?"

She nodded and handed me a bowl for him, which I quickly filled and dashed out the door and straight for Icarus's cave. Sure enough, he quickly snapped it up, happy with my offering. I rubbed his head as he ate and then headed home.

When I got back, I helped her pack up the massive amount of leftovers into a basket and pile it in our capsule plane. After we were buckled in, Mom eased it off the ground, punched it and we raced through the sky toward Master Roshi's island.

We ended up staying there for quite while, having bumped into Bulma. The impromptu gathering was exactly what I needed and I was sure Mom enjoyed herself, too. A couple of hours later, as the sun moved a little lower in the sky, we said our goodbyes and headed back to our quiet mountain home.

Having eaten such a huge breakfast and lunch, we decided on a fairly light dinner.

I brought a platter with the last little bit of fish and rice on it and the last couple pork-buns, along with a platter of chocolate chip cookies to the table while Mom carried the plates and chopsticks for each of us.

I grabbed my chopsticks and popped the first bite in my mouth and in that moment, my relaxed but alert senses caught something powerful and distant. I reached out further, intent on examining that energy, realizing it was definitely unfamiliar.

I thought to seek out Piccolo and Dende – I could feel them on the Lookout – and ask them about it the next day, but the sudden clatter of chopsticks on a plate pulled my attention to Mom.

The first thing I noticed was how blanched she looked, her eyes wide in terror, but distant, a shaking hand hovering in front of her face. She must have dropped her chopsticks in the middle of taking a bite.

I reached out toward her, my voice small. "Mom…?"

When my hand connected with hers, my heart suddenly jumped in my throat – pounding painfully hard – as a cocktail of intense emotions that weren't mine surged into me along with vague, fuzzy, yet very intense images that I couldn't make heads or tails of…

 _Sprinting down a large, dark hallway in a terrified panic, nearly getting hit by falling rubble as powerful tremors shake the place apart… momentary safety and relief in huge, strong arms… my heart clenching as screams echo over the noise of rubble crashing to the floor–_

My eyes popped open and I yanked my hand back with a gasp as if I had been burned – the torrent of emotion and thought that… wasn't mine… ceasing the moment I did that.

My head snapped up and my eyes nervously darted around the room as I instinctively probed our property and then our mountain with my senses, positive we were about to be attacked – but by whom or what I had no idea.

The only life in the area was nature.

Somewhat satisfied we weren't about to be killed, I forced my pounding heart back into my chest and calmed my breathing, relying on the meditation techniques Piccolo instilled in me over the years.

My body may have been calmer, but my mind wouldn't stop spinning, trying to figure out what the heck just happened. I slowly realized Mom wasn't in the room with me and quickly reached out my senses to find her, worried she was in danger.

With some relief, I sensed her upstairs safe in her room, her _ki_ turbulent and… bigger than normal.

I jogged up the stairs and – upon reaching her door – knocked softly. "Mom…?"

No response.

After giving her a minute, I tried the doorknob. It was unlocked so I slowly opened it and what I saw when I stepped into her room had me immediately concerned.

Mom was on the floor below Dad's side of the bed with her back against the bed and her knees tucked under her chin, staring brokenly straight ahead.

I cautiously moved up to her. She didn't seem to notice me – if she did, she didn't acknowledge me.

I crouched down next to her. "Mom…? What… what happened back there?"

I didn't bother asking if she was okay. One look at her wide, bloodshot eyes as she stared straight ahead made the answer to that question obvious.

She remained quiet.

I put a hand on her shoulder, earning a twitch in response. "Talk to me, Mom. Something bizarre happened when I touched your hand. _What_ was that? Why did you… look so scared all of a sudden?"

She took a deep, shaky breath and finally met my eyes. "Gohan… I don't have any idea where to start…"

Her gaze fell away from mine and she nibbled on her thumbnail, leaving her other arm still draped around her knees. I stayed quiet, deciding only to shift into a more comfortable position next to her. She didn't appear anywhere near ready to reveal whatever had her so shaken, so I waited patiently.

Abruptly, she stood up. "Let's go downstairs and finish dinner. I'll explain after we're done eating."

Nodding, I got up, and followed her out of her room and back to the kitchen where we sat down at the table and ate our somewhat cold dinner quietly.

Examining that energy as we ate in silence, the first thing I noticed was how big it was, but like it was in space somewhere – not anywhere on our planet. The next thing I noticed was how cold and dark it felt, with no warmth to it at all. As big as Dad's power was, his energy always felt very warm. That distant energy was cold enough to make me shudder.

Mom had a frown on her face as we ate, but not in anger. She looked deep in thought – not just deep in thought, but also more than a little bit puzzled.

As soon as we were done eating, she got up and cleared the table without a word. She opened the fridge, grabbed the milk, stuck a saucepan on the stove, and pulled out other ingredients – presumably making her amazing made-from-scratch hot-cocoa judging by the chocolate and the big bag of those yummy jumbo marshmallows sitting on the counter next to the milk.

A few minutes later, Mom carried two big, steaming mugs of hot chocolate to the table and – handing me one – she took a seat next to me. She put the opened bag of marshmallows between us, plopped one in her mug, and took a sip.

A little bit out of the blue, she said, "When you touched me, you saw snippets of a memory from my childhood."

I raised an eyebrow. "A… memory? But how was it possible for me to see one of your memories? Why did that happen?"

Mom remained quiet. She looked a little bit nervous with her lower lip tugged up slightly between her teeth. She glanced at me briefly and then settled her gaze on her cup, still nervous but seemingly deep in thought as well.

"Uh… Mom…?"

She blew out a breath, her gaze remaining on her cup. "You asked how seeing one of my memories was possible."

I nodded.

She hesitated with a slight frown on her face, sipping on her hot chocolate.

I had seen some amazing stuff and even been to another _planet_ and met aliens and made friends with them _._ Heck… I even learned _I_ was half-alien because my _own father_ wasn't from our planet! What could possibly be crazier than that?

Finally, she turned to face me, looking me dead in the eye. "That memory, Gohan, was the night my mother was killed."

"When I asked you about your mother a long time ago, you said she died when some of Grandpa's enemies from back when he was a violent warlord attacked your castle in the middle of the night when you were six years old."

The broken bits of chaos in that memory corroborated that, but her response only confused me.

"Well… that's _half_ true…" She bit her lip and then continued, "My mother _was_ killed when we were attacked in the middle of the night but she didn't fall at the hands of my _father's_ enemies. Papa told me later she died fighting _her own_ enemies, but he didn't tell me more than that."

I was confused. I knew she wouldn't lie to me – especially not about something like that. There had to be some logical explanation for the two different stories.

"Your _mother_ had enemies? Who? Why? And why did you tell me Grandpa's enemies killed her?"

That was where she took her longest pause, dropping her gaze and chewing on her bottom lip.

I dismissed the next thought that popped into my head as quickly as I had it while I grabbed a marshmallow and awaited her answer. There was _no_ possible way that… memory… and the distant power could be _connected_ somehow.

I almost laughed out loud at myself. That was _ridiculous_. Mom was a skilled martial artist in her own right, but didn't have the power we had. Not to mention Mom didn't have any enemies like Dad did. Whatever that was that had happened to Mom the same time I sensed that power _had_ to just be a coincidence.

…Right?

A soft touch on my shoulder snapped me out of my ridiculous train of thought and I met her gaze.

"Gohan… I promise I didn't lie to you when I told you my father's enemies killed her. I know that sounds odd, but I didn't."

I nodded. "I trust you, Mom."

A little bit of relief flashed across her face as she nodded, her gaze never leaving mine. "I know you're sensing a big power somewhere far away from here."

I hadn't mentioned that to her, yet.

"How do you…?"

"I know because I can sense it, too."

I stared at her, more than a little dumbfounded.

"I have to tell you something that's going to shock you… and I don't know how to say this…"

Her eyes darted around the room unsurely.

Watching Mom… struggle like she was told me maybe – just maybe – our little world just got turned on its head and the little bit of peace we had completely undone. I couldn't shake the growing feeling that power and Mom's memory really _were_ connected in some way.

Taking a deep breath, she rotated her chair so she faced me fully and looked me evenly in the eye. "My mother wasn't from here. Not from this country, not even from this _world._ "

I took a sip of hot chocolate just to give my hands and mouth something to do…

"The truth is, I'm only _half_ human, Gohan. My other half is Saiyan."

…And promptly sprayed it out all over the table and coughed somewhat violently, having gotten a little of it down the wrong pipe.

After my coughing fit subsided, I croaked, " _What_!?"

I was reeling. I couldn't _believe_ what I just heard out of her!

I tried but failed at first to make my brain work – to break it out of the blank shock it was stuck in.

Excruciatingly slowly, thought returned, bringing with it a plethora of half-formed questions.

Choosing one slightly randomly because I really had _no idea_ where to even start, I asked rather brokenly, "But… all of a _sudden_ …?"

Memories of Mom angrily lifting entire _couches_ and throwing them at Dad as he ran – other times lifting Dad himself and throwing _him_ out the door – with not so much as a grunt of effort flashed through my head.

Maybe her being… a Saiyan that _whole time_ really _did_ sort of explain her crazy strength.

"Two years or so after my mother was killed, my power and memories of it were… hidden from me and… I think it was done to protect me. Just a little bit ago, something… somehow brought them back… all at once."

"Hidden… to protect you from…?"

With my brain continuing its struggle to grind into gear and my mouth hanging open stupidly, forming a complete sentence remained beyond me, but thankfully she seemed to understand my meaning.

Sadness flashed across her face, shortly followed by an alarming amount of frustration. "I _don't know_ , Gohan! I remember when my mother died but no idea how or why _._ At least when my real memories were locked away, I had _some_ sort of an explanation… even if it wasn't quite true."

She huffed out a breath and dropped her face in her hands, her shoulders trembling.

As my brain finally resumed semi normal function, sympathy moved in to replace my earlier blank shock as I realized Mom's closure over the loss of her mother – something she had for _years_ – was taken from her in a very short period of time.

I felt my eyebrows pull down as I reached out to rest a hand on her back and whispered, "Mom… Is there anything I can do?"

After a moment, she collected herself and looked up at me, wearing a brave smile. "I'm okay, Gohan."

Pulling my hand back, I leaned back in my chair. "You're half-Saiyan. This whole time. This is… _crazy_."

She giggled. "I suppose it _is_ a little hard to believe."

Her expression changed to one of slight concentration. Her larger than normal power fluctuated through her body, a small portion of it pooling in her right hand extended out in front of her. Then, the energy emerged out of her palm in the form of a small, brightly glowing sphere hovering a couple of inches above her hand.

I stared at it, amazed. "Wow…"

She extinguished it with a dismissive flick of her wrist. "I know it's nothing compared to what you and your father are capable of."

A small ball of energy was no big deal, but that _Mom_ produced one, wielding it like it was nothing, like she had _done that before…_

"Something tells me our world just got turned upside-down."

That seemed to happen to us a lot.

She laughed a slightly bitter laugh. "I think you're right, Gohan."

With my brain firing on all cylinders, curiosity moved in. "Did your mom ever tell you about life on the Saiyan home world?"

"She did. She told me bedtime stories of peaceful Saiyans living apart from the others and their abilities rare among Saiyans. She told me all kinds of stuff, but I don't remember a whole lot. That was so long ago…"

My eyebrows climbed up. "What kinds of rare abilities? And peaceful Saiyans? Vegeta makes it sound like the whole race was awfully ruthless."

"Saiyans were ruthless, but there were several tribes of peaceful Saiyans. My mother told me they didn't really interact much with the other Saiyans."

"So… does that mean your mother was a member of one of these tribes?"

She nodded. "Yes, she was."

"You said they had rare abilities. What sorts of things could they do that the others couldn't?"

"There were three rare abilities: _Ki-_ Blocking, Mind Manipulation, and the rarest of all was Healing. Saiyans with the ability to _Ki-_ Block their enemies could touch a pressure point and their enemies would drop instantly, unable to use their power or even move. Mind Manipulation was another rare ability, using nothing but the mind to defeat enemies – picture fighting entire battles without needing to move a muscle. The rarest of all was healing."

Of the three skills Mom mentioned to me that night, Mind Manipulation surprised me the most. Fighting without moving at all. What a bizarre concept.

"Can _you_ do any of those rare techniques?"

 _Yes. I can._

I gaped at her. She didn't say that out loud. Her mouth was closed.

"You… know telepathy?"

She nodded as she gave me a small, amused sort of smile. _I have the impression telepathy is common amongst Saiyans. Mind Manipulation takes it one step further. That was the skill my mother knew and what she taught me. I'll teach you everything I know. We'll get started tomorrow._

"Okay. Can you tell me about that memory I saw little bits of earlier?"

Falling silent, she frowned and then, "I can do better than that, Gohan. Thanks to Mind Manipulation, I can _show_ you. But I'll warn you, it's very, very intense and it will be like you're experiencing it yourself."

I nodded. I was confident I could handle it.

She reached toward me and I leaned toward her with no idea what she was getting ready to do.

She put her fingers on my temples. "Take a deep breath and clear your mind."

I nodded again and closed my eyes as I emptied my mind of all conscious thought like Piccolo had trained me and saw exactly what she saw the night she lost her mother when she was just a little kid…

 _I joyfully run through a field of wildflowers as high as my waist, their wonderful aroma wafting through the air. Mom and Dad – sitting on a blanket nearby – wave me over._

BOOM _. My ears pick up disembodied shouts and screams. I look at my parents, still sitting on the blanket in the meadow, waving at me and smiling as if nothing is wrong._

BOOM _. My dream dissolves as something startles me awake._

Must have just been a nightmare _, I think to myself. I leave my room and set off for my parent's room down the corridor, needing a hug._

BOOM. _The whole castle shakes, my ears catching more screams and shouts._ This isn't a dream, _I realize._

 _Then I sense them. Two huge, evil powers. Very close by. Dread seizes my heart._

 _I run as fast as I can, my heart pounding. Absolute terror, my mind racing, unable to form a coherent thought, panic pushing me forward._

BOOM. _I lose my balance from the quaking and fall hard, skidding to a stop, smacking my head on sculptures toppled by the shaking. Intense pain explodes in my head._

 _The whole corridor is suddenly plunged into pitch-black darkness. I can't see._

 _A blinding flash followed by another bang, this one louder and closer than the others. My confused mind realizes these bangs are explosions causing the castle to quake._

 _I cry out, "Mommy? Daddy?"_

 _Pillars and beams collapse all around me, and I try to find shelter in the chaos and rubble._

 _I close my eyes and curl into a ball, my ears covered, crying, and shaking uncontrollably, the whole time the two huge powers I sense oppressively hanging over me. I almost can't breathe from the weight of my own dread._

 _Without warning, I feel myself get scooped up in giant, familiar arms._

" _D-Daddy?" I squeak._

 _I slowly uncurl from my tight ball and bury my face into my Daddy's big chest._

 _Relief._

 _I feel a gentle, soothing rub on my back and turn around in my father's arms to see my mother smiling at me, softly illuminated by a single candle in her hand. I feel safe again. Secure. My parents are with me now. Everything will be ok._

 _A blinding flash and_ BANG. _I feel my father jolted by the shockwave and he holds me tighter. The candle goes out, and we are plunged back into darkness._

 _I hear my mom shout, "GET HER OUT OF HERE! RIGHT NOW!"_

 _I can't see her, but I feel her running away from us – her voice still ringing in my head._

" _MOMMY! NO!" I scream._

 _I feel my father hesitate. "Don't leave Mommy!" I plead to him. He holds me tighter, his huge hands protectively covering my head and the rest of my body. I feel him turn around and run – as fast as he can, away from the two huge – evil powers, and away from my Mommy._

 _I hear a long scream of pain from a familiar voice, and feel the_ BANG _of the largest explosion yet, causing my Daddy to stumble but he presses forward. An unfamiliar pain clenches my heart, and I realize I'm crying. I bury myself deeper into my Daddy's huge chest and he holds me tighter. He knows, but still he presses on. I can't feel her anymore. I know deep in my heart she's gone, a void in my heart already forming. Overwhelmed, I feel myself fading… Fight it… Too tired… Head hurts… Blackness swallows me and I surrender to it…_

My heart pounded in my throat painfully hard. My eyes snapped open and darted about the room in a panic and – without even registering what I was doing – I was on my feet in a fighting stance, sweeping my senses about the house and our property and allowing them to expand.

The distant energy that turned our quiet night upside-down _matched_ one of the powers in Mom's memory and I was ready to attack right then.

The air crackled around me as the table rattled and loose objects – including our mugs and the entire table – floated a little ways into the air. The whole house shook – my energy just on the edge of release. The small locks of hair that hung down in my eyes flickered from black to brilliant yellow. I was just about to let the transformation out when a soft touch on my arm made me whirl on the spot to face my mother.

She held my arm and watched me intently, her concerned expression urging me to calm down.

With a huff of air, I let my turbulent power in me settle and dropped back into my seat as loose objects fell down around me.

"It felt so… _real_."

My mother reached up to brush her fingertips across my cheeks and it was then I realized I was crying.

I stared at her. "Mom…"

She held my face, making me stare into her own watery but determined eyes. "You and me start our training tomorrow."

Instantly, my tears dried up and I nodded. "That distant energy… it matches one of the powers from your memory! Whoever owns that power is coming to Earth."

As soon as the last sentence left my lips, I knew it to be true and Mom did, too – even though she didn't say anything else about it.

Something warm and wet soaked into my slippers and I looked down at the brown puddle of our hot chocolate and at the overturned mugs on the table.

Mom blew out a breath. "Let's clean this up and head to bed. It's past midnight."

I nodded as a jaw-popping yawn forced its way out, making Mom yawn widely, too as she handed me a towel and we got to work cleaning up our spilled hot chocolate and went to bed.

 _Mom_ training _me…_ If someone told me Mom was going to change so completely, I wouldn't have believed it.

* * *

I unwillingly cracked my eyes open and glared slightly at the too-bright sunlight streaming in through my window. I yawned widely and groaned – working out the kinks in my aching neck and back from spending the few hours of sleep I got tossing and turning.

My dreams were weird and disturbing nightmares of Mom's memory merging with Dad's death. When I woke up shaking and in a cold sweat at three o'clock in the morning, going back to sleep was impossible as hard as I tried to.

To say that night was not restful was the understatement of the year – or maybe the century.

I pulled on some clothes and shuffled my feet to the kitchen. Mom seemed to have come to life more than she had all month as she bustled around the kitchen, busy cooking us breakfast and greeted me with a bright, "Morning, Gohan!"

My response was a somewhat less enthused, "Morning, Mom."

She looked well rested – her clothes pressed and ready to start the day. That spark in her eyes had even returned.

She put a huge plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of me and eyed me a little bit worriedly. "Gohan… you're still not sleeping well, are you? It's been a whole month. Is there anything I can do to help, Sweetie?"

"No… I'm okay, Mom. But thanks."

Her worried expression changed into a skeptical one, but she dropped the issue. I was thankful because I didn't really want to talk about it, anyway. It wasn't the most pleasant subject and I didn't want to burden her further. She had enough to think about.

"Eat up, Gohan. You need the energy."

I nodded and shoved the first delicious bite in my mouth and slowly, my foggy, exhausted mind cleared. By the time my plate was empty and I had a few of Mom's homemade rolls, I felt considerably better.

She cleaned up the table. "Let's get going. We have a lot of work to do."

I nodded and smiled up at her – more than a little bit awed by the determined and confident expression she wore. I had never seen _Mom_ look quite like that before. I had seen Dad wear the look plenty of times, but not her.

I followed Mom out the door and several paces into our yard and toward the woods, but then she stopped and started doing something that concerned me: she was stretching.

"We're not… sparring or something… right, Mom?"

She looked at me in the middle of a lunge stretch. "No. You know we can't. I'm stretching to run. I'm–" she dropped her gaze to the ground, seeming a little self-conscious and her voice dropped, too "–curious to see how fast I can run."

I raised an eyebrow and then grinned, immediately interested. "Cool!"

I stretched, too and then Mom smirked at me and – without warning – took off, kicking up clods of dirt and grass in her wake. She was long out of sight by the time the mess fell to the ground, her deep footprints leading off in the woods down one of our many well-trodden forest paths.

Reaching out, she was already a couple of miles away. She had only been out of sight for not even a minute!

My jaw dropped.

 _Well? Come on, slow poke!_

I twitched and nodded but it wasn't as if she could see me anyway and took off after her. It only took me about thirty seconds or so to catch up to her and she acknowledged me with glance and a bright, gleeful grin.

She was having a blast.

For a short while, we ran shoulder to shoulder until the path faded back into the narrow, winding game trail it started out life as. She led the way deeper into the woods. I had been all over the mountains with Dad growing up, but – with our speed – it didn't take long before we hit largely uncharted territory.

Still, we pushed on, running for an hour down the length of our long mountain range, the scenery stunning.

Then, we finally found a large clearing deep in the mountains. It looked perfect for training, plenty far enough way that I could train and raise my power without having to worry about our house, so I dashed up level with Mom and tapped her shoulder. I slowed myself and stopped and she did, too.

"I think this looks good, Mom! It's far enough way I can raise my power without worrying about damaging our house."

She nodded agreeably. "Then let's get started." She sat down where we stood in the middle of the clearing and patted the grass in front of her.

Sitting down in front of her with no idea what to expect, I decided to simply wait for instructions.

She didn't say or do anything – at least not until a very strange feeling brushed the back of my mind, like a different presence. Dad had used telepathy with me before so I knew the feeling. Dad hadn't used it often with me, but it wasn't a completely alien feeling.

Mom shifted a little bit on the grass. _Since telepathy is the foundation for Mind Manipulation, I think it's best if we talk this way from now on… or at least until you've mastered telepathy and are very accustomed to it._

I nodded to her and mouthed, _Okay._

She giggled out loud and in my head. _You don't have to move your mouth at all to speak like this. Just think it and I'll hear you. I want telepathy to become second nature._

I nodded again and shut my mouth. _So… how does this Mind Manipulation technique work?_

 _My mother explained the technique depends on telepathy and that telepathic link you will learn to form with someone else's mind. It's that link you use to attack your enemy. Blocking that link guards your mind against attacks. With talking like this, can you sort of read my emotions and know what I'm thinking about?_

 _Yeah._

 _Good. Now, I'm going to be on guard now for a few seconds and I want you to feel that difference from me._

Suddenly, the strange feeling sitting at the back of my mind vanished as abruptly as if someone had flipped a switch. I couldn't read her at all. It was almost like it was back to normal.

I frowned slightly, curious if concentrating harder would let me sense her again. Once I concentrated, I realized I felt an iron hard wall between where her mental presence was and my mind.

I wondered what would happen if I focused a little harder…

I closed my eyes.

That wall became a little bit… clearer somehow. Focusing even harder, I realized I could make contact with it. I shoved against it and poked and prodded it experimentally. I didn't really have any idea just what was supposed to happen, but it was clear I wasn't making any progress since there was no change in it at all.

Before I could decide what to try next, that wall suddenly vanished and – because of how hard I was focusing on it – I was instantly engulfed in a wave of her thoughts and feelings that was so intense, I couldn't decipher any of it.

It reminded me of the time I got swept down a river when I was really little, tumbling head-over-heels under the swift current. There were moments when I was so disoriented, finding the surface was impossible until the current mercifully brought me to the surface before I drowned.

I struggled to sort it out, but she seemed to realize that and separated a little bit from me.

Once she did that, I could sort of make out what she was thinking and feeling again. I felt a wave of pride and approval wash over me.

She rubbed my head. _That was_ very good _, Gohan! What you did there with shoving your consciousness against my wall was your first attack! You catch on very quick! My Gohan is such a smart boy._

I opened my eyes to see her beaming proudly at me and my cheeks went a little bit pink.

 _Okay, now I want_ you _to try defense. I wont try to attack you yet so don't worry about that. I just want you to get the feel of it. I know you can feel me in your head and I want you to focus on shoving me out. Ignore everything else and focus solely on that like you did when you tried your first attack._

I nodded and shut my eyes again. Finding her presence resting idly in the back of my mind was easy. I was rapidly becoming used to feeling her mind in mine.

I thought about what she told me and decided to throw myself against her sort of like I did when I tested her wall so I launched my mind at hers and a pained hiss broke my concentration and my eyes snapped open.

Mom rubbed her temples as she looked at me, her expression somewhere torn between a pained grimace and a proud smile. "That was… very good, Gohan! If you pushed a little farther, you could have been in _my_ head and really done some damage."

I watched her a little bit worriedly. "Are you… okay…?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine, Gohan. I'm just very rusty. Let's take a short break."

"Okay."

She got up and headed toward the shade the trees offered and sat down in it.

I followed and sat down in the shade beside her. "I can't help but wonder what Dad would think of this. He'd probably completely freak out. I can't believe _you_ are half-Saiyan."

She wore a sad sort of smile, her gaze on the ground in front of her and then she sneezed rather loudly and with enough force that it rattled the first few trees directly in front of her.

I chuckled. "Then again, maybe he already knows."

She laughed, too. "Whatever the case, someone somewhere is definitely talking about me. Let's get back to work, except this time, we'll stay in the shade."

I nodded.

About two hours after getting back to work and taking turns attacking and defending, I was concentrating with all my might trying to keep Mom out of my head and she very much wasn't going easy on me. I was doing well until a sudden, loud roar shattered my concentration and an awful headache exploded in my head.

Feeling her presence withdraw, I cracked my eyes open to see her staring down at her stomach a little bit wide-eyed.

That roar was no animal. She _definitely_ had Saiyan blood.

I giggled despite the stubborn ache in my head. "I think it's time to eat."

The moment I said that, my stomach unleashed a growl of its own and she looked at me and with a small smile on her lips.

"Let's head home and I'll make us lunch. I think from now on, I'm going to have to cook a lot ahead of time and capsulize it. We wont make much progress if we have to go home every time we get hungry and something tells me that's going to happen a lot more."

I chuckled again and nodded.

We had just made it home and Mom and I headed straight to the kitchen where Mom immediately began pulling meat and vegetables out of the fridge and other stuff from the pantry – along with some dried herbs hanging from the kitchen window.

She seemed deep in thought, as she looked back and forth between her hands held out in front of her and the ingredients of the meal on the counter. A soft rumble from her stomach seemed to snap her out of it and she rubbed some seasonings on the roast she pulled out of the fridge and stepped back.

A little bit of movement on the counter caught my eye. The huge beef roast resting on the counter shifted on its own and then lifted into the air and my jaw hit the floor as I shifted my gaze back to Mom.

Her eyes were narrowed in a look of deep concentration. Then, I heard a deep exhale at the same moment as I sensed a sharp but small spike of power but the power didn't fade away. She maintained that little burst of energy – keeping it perfectly even. She managed her energy output surprisingly expertly.

The delicious smell of the seasoned roast filled the kitchen, pulling my gaze back to it and I realized it was actually being cooked by Mom's energy. The last time I tried to cook with my energy, I put my dad's hair on fire.

She turned her back on the meat and got started on our other dishes, but there was not even the slightest waver in her little bit of power cooking the roast while she multitasked.

I was even more awed by the display when three other dishes joined them in the air, all skillfully managed. I realized that had to be a much faster method of cooking than how she had to do things before her power came back. With our small stove and oven, meals sometimes took a couple of hours by the time everything was on the table.

How Mom was using her energy to cook right then was way more efficient – and way more fun to watch.

Seemingly done with the food preparation and cooking as much as we needed with her power, she turned to look at me, wearing a small smirk. "My mother used to cook like this."

"Mom… that's _amazing_!"

She giggled as she joined me at the table. "Thank you, Sweetie. I'm… sort of winging it."

Soon after, the food was ready. One by one, she floated the platters to the table and we dished ourselves up.

Mom ate. And ate. And ate. And ate some more.

She ate more than I had ever seen her eat in my life. Her appetite had been a little bit higher due to her pregnancy, but at the table after our first ever training session, she had a _Saiyan_ appetite.

"Gohan? Everything okay? If the roast is a little dry, I'm sorry."

I twitched, realizing I was staring at her. I was so transfixed watching her eat, I completely forgot about my food! I was never quite as obsessed with food as Dad was, but forgetting about food when it was right in front of my face was unheard of.

I nodded and finally started eating – and everything was _delicious_ – but I kept a running tally of how many helpings she got. After wiping out her sixth or so very full plate, she finally leaned back.

It was about a third or so of how much Dad was capable of putting away, but way, way, _way_ more than she had ever eaten as a human.

She sighed a little bit disgustedly as she caught my eye. "You probably think your mother is an absolute pig, don't you?"

I vigorously shook my head, but the sudden image of what _Dad's_ reaction would have been watching Mom eat like that resulted in a snort I tried to muffle with my hand.

Mom's eyes narrowed.

Then, the corners of her mouth twitched up and she threw her head back and actually _laughed_. For the first time since losing Dad, she laughed.

I couldn't hold it in if I tried – the sheer _absurdity_ of _Mom_ eating anywhere near like Dad was too much. I ate way more than any normal _grown_ _man_ but Mom ate every bit as much as I did!

It was a few minutes before either of us managed to reign in our laughter.

Once we finally regained control, she stood up and I followed her outside and we raced to our clearing.

Mom found a nice spot in some shade that still offered a good view of the clearing and sat down. I followed.

"Ready to get back to work, Gohan?"

I nodded.

We picked up where we left off – with me on the defensive and Mom attacking and swapped roles.

* * *

Roughly a week into our training, we had already made some decent progress. Attacking and defense began to come naturally. I wouldn't quite say it was second nature, but I was definitely growing more and more comfortable with the technique every day.

In the clearing after breakfast, Mom hissed when I smashed through the wall shielding her mind.

After rubbing her head for a moment, she said, "That was very good, Gohan! You've made some great progress this week. What do you say we take a break from this and I'll show you another technique my mother taught me?"

"Heh… thanks, Mom! Sure!"

"Gather some small rocks, please."

I raised an eyebrow. "Rocks? What are we going to do with those?"

She merely smiled. "You'll see."

I shrugged and went and did as she asked. A short while later, I joined Mom in the middle of the clearing with a decent armload of fist-sized rocks and waited for her next instructions.

"Just drop them, Gohan."

"Okay."

I let the pile tumble out of my arms, careful not to let any fall on our feet and Mom motioned for me to stand back.

I moved several feet away as Mom's eyes narrowed in concentration as she watched the rocks intently. She lifted an arm and her power fluctuated and then a small amount of invisible energy flowed out of her palm and – strangely enough – wrapped itself around a rock in the pile.

With a slight jerk upwards of her arm, the rock with a tendril of invisible energy wrapped around it lifted into the air and I sucked in a breath. She swept her arm out to the side and the rock followed her motion, zipping through the air and wedging itself firmly in the bark of a nearby tree and my jaw dropped open.

She snapped her wrist toward her and the rock popped free, pulling small chunks of bark with it and zoomed through the air toward her and came to a gentle landing in her hand. She tossed it on the pile.

She looked my way and giggled. "You can do this, too!"

That was news to me. "I can…? How…?"

"I'll show you. Come here."

I walked up to her and she grabbed my shoulders and turned me toward the rocks.

"You know how to push your _ki_ out to make blasts. This is similar in a way. Just focus and push a little of your energy out and concentrate on wrapping it around the rock."

I nodded and did as I was instructed.

"Good. Now move your energy up. The rock will move with it."

Imitating what I saw her doing, I directed the energy up with my hand and – sure enough – the rock rose slowly into the air. I found the rock followed the motion as I slowly swept my arm from side to side.

"Well done. Drop the rock and do the same thing without moving your arm at all."

Mom demonstrated the same exact move with her hands clasped behind her back. It looked easy enough so I gave it a try, holding my hands behind my back, too.

The rock merely shook and bounced a little bit without actually lifting.

Mom giggled. "You have to concentrate a little bit harder than before."

The rock finally floated up, wobbling a lot as it went – sometimes almost falling out of the air.

"A little harder to do without moving your hand, isn't it?"

A single stiff nod was my reply.

"Drop it. We'll practice that more later. You'll get so comfortable with this, it'll be second nature."

I let the rock slip out of my grasp and it landed in the pile with a clatter.

Mom ruffled my hair. "Let's sit down and work on some more Mind Manipulation."

"'K!"

We spent the rest of the afternoon fighting each other with our minds, only taking a break to eat or when our headaches grew too bad to continue.

When we returned home that evening, I worked a little on my studies. My persistent headache quickly made that a very unpleasant task so I stopped. Instead, I amused myself by floating my pencil and eventually a few of my textbooks around the room until I grew sleepy.

* * *

Almost two weeks into our training to the day, we found ourselves sitting in the shade at the edge of our clearing and locked in an intense battle of minds. We had both moved well beyond mere practicing. On the surface, I imagined we appeared mostly relaxed – save for the occasional pained grimace or hiss.

We might have _looked_ relaxed, but the fight raging in our heads told a very different tale. Our sessions grew to be every bit as intense as any of the physical sparring matches between Dad and me in the Time Chamber.

Mom and I had both finally found our stride.

After our match, we were both tired but delighted. Most sessions, we had enough energy to move onto other techniques.

"That's enough for now, Gohan. Let's eat something and rest for a short while and then we will work on telekinesis."

"Alright!"

Almost every night since Mom introduced me to telekinesis, I had amused myself by floating my books and pencils around the room and that was easy. Mom was especially impressed with my progress whenever we trained our telekinesis together. I wouldn't tell her how I had been practicing. I knew well how she was about my studies and I didn't want to mess up the mostly good mood she had been in since we started our training.

After digging into the meal Mom cooked ahead of time and packed in a capsule, we moved out into the center of the clearing to stand over our pile of rocks – the same pile we had been practicing with since Mom showed me telekinesis.

She moved several feet away from me. "I need a challenge today, Gohan. I want you to throw those rocks at me."

I looked at her like she grew a second head.

Mom laughed. "Don't worry, Gohan. You wont hurt me."

"But…"

She crossed her arms. "I'll be _fine_ ,Gohan. I promise."

I hesitantly picked up the first rock and gently tossed it.

She didn't uncross her arms but the rock stopped about a foot in front of her face.

She raised an eyebrow. "Come on, Gohan! I'm stronger than that! Throw the next one faster."

Not wanting to make Mom angry, I obeyed and lobbed the next one at her faster.

My senses alerted me to a sharp but small spike of power and the rock was vaporized.

My jaw dropped open a little bit. "Whoa…"

She smirked slightly. "Throw the next one even faster."

I hoped she wasn't getting too cocky, but I threw the next one with a bit more power behind it. Just in case, I prepared myself to dart in and grab it.

There proved to be no need for my concern.

She snatched it out of the air easily and tossed it into the pile at my feet. "Throw a few at the same time."

My eyes went wide. She was definitely too cocky!

She raised a slender eyebrow as if to say, 'Well? Hurry up!'

Mentally crossing my fingers, I did as her expression demanded and held my breath as three rocks rocketed toward her – that or maybe I _forgot_ how to breathe for a moment there.

The rocks halted in front of her and she looked _bored_ as she sent them back to the pile. Her expression was relaxed – not even so much of an eyebrow twitch of mental exertion. "C'mon, Gohan! I know you can do better than that! Throw more! And as fast as you can!"

"Well… okay…"

I picked up three more and threw them at her in quick succession.

She nimbly twisted and bent, gracefully dodging the fast moving missiles and then stopped them behind her with her power.

Instead of putting them back on the pile, she walked up to me with the three rocks floating along behind her. "Your turn."

I could handle rocks and I was relieved I didn't have to throw them at her anymore.

I walked several feet away and waited patiently for Mom to throw them at me.

Then, my eyes bugged out of my head as I had to quickly twist to the side, missing the rock by just millimeters.

I hadn't seen her move at all!

Then, it occurred to me that maybe she _hadn't_ and used her power to launch a rock at me. I decided to use my senses, closing my eyes completely and forcing myself to remain relaxed.

The next rock I was expecting and easily stopped it right in front of my face.

Detecting the rocks proved easy since a little of her energy was wrapped around each rock, and even easier when she threw them in multiples because of the slight increase in power making them that much easier to sense.

Four rocks froze in front of me and I vaporized them with a spark of power.

"Good job, Gohan! I think that's enough for now. But before we leave, I'll give you a hint of exactly what telekinesis is good for."

Instantly, I was several feet up in the air – not by my own will – and held there. I realized I had no control of my body. My limbs were locked up, my arms pinned uselessly to my sides and my legs stuck together.

The only part of my body I could move was my eyeballs.

My eyes darted down to my mother who was staring up at me with a look of mild concentration.

Her expression relaxed. "I'm going to release you now. Kick in your energy so you don't fall."

Immediately after that, control of my limbs returned to me and I kicked in just enough energy to prevent myself from falling to the grass-covered ground. All of me with the exception of my jaw, at least.

She smiled a little bit. "That's why telekinesis is a good technique to use in battle. It might give you that little bit of an upper hand, allowing you to catch your opponent by surprise _just enough_ that you can get in and land that final blow. It takes a lot of practice, but I expect you to be able to do that to me one of these days."

I nodded slowly, still pretty dumbfounded, and still hovering in the air.

She giggled. "Let's go home. We'll work on this more tomorrow."

She turned on her heel and raced away and I dropped out of the air and took off after her.

* * *

Out in the clearing three weeks to the day since we started our training, I had progressed enough with telekinesis that I trusted my control enough to do simple locks against Mom like she had first demonstrated on me. She was right. Every day I practiced, and every day, it grew easier.

Mom smoothed her dress. "You're doing incredibly well, Gohan! I taught you what little I know. Now all we can do is practice."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Heh… thanks, Mom."

Her stomach let loose a little growl and she looked down at her stomach somewhat exasperatedly. "Oh, hush. I just fed you."

We did just eat breakfast and she put away _a lot_. Pregnant. Half-Saiyan. And training. Mom was hungry. _Endlessly_.

Another insistent growl issued from her stomach and she rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. "Okay… I guess it's snack time. Go pick some apples, please Gohan and come back here."

"'K!"

I kicked into the air and headed toward the giant apple tree with the biggest, most delicious apples ever and returned to the clearing a few minutes later with an armful of apples.

By the time I had returned, Mom had a wonderful spread set out on a blanket and ready to eat. I watched her put away a startling amount for a 'snack'. An amount she never would have come close to eating for a _meal_ before that Saiyan appetite kicked in.

Once again, I found myself wondering just how Dad would react seeing her like that.

* * *

"Morning, Gohan," was Mom's tired greeting over her shoulder as I stepped down into the kitchen for breakfast a month to the day since we started our training.

"Morning, Mom."

I didn't sound any better.

In typical fashion, she had several baking dishes hovering in the air around her being cooked by her energy and more on the stove and in the oven. All were expertly managed, despite her tired tone.

It was definitely an _impressive_ show.

One by one, she extinguished her energy and floated everything to the table. It was every bit as much as she used to cook for both of us plus Dad, but with her appetite being what it was and mine higher than usual, too, there really wasn't that much left over.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed contentedly – and blearily – trying to ignore my headache. "Thanks, Mom. That was great."

She smiled a slightly forced smile. "You're welcome, Gohan."

The truth was, my head was _pounding_ and if her forced smile and the tightness around her eyes were anything to go by, her head was hurting her, too. It was pain earned through our intensive mental training sessions – a different sort than the physical soreness I had after training with Dad.

We were used to headaches by the end of the day most days. We didn't let them slow us down. Typically, we slept them off over night and woke up fresh the next morning. For the first morning since starting our training, our headaches were very much present when we woke up.

Mom groaned and rubbed her temples. "I don't think either one of us is in much shape to train. I know your father took breaks, too. Let's relax today and get back to work tomorrow."

I nodded, more than a little relieved.

"If you feel up to it, I'd like it if you could get some homework done at some point today. You're almost done with that algebra textbook. Work on another chapter."

"Okay."

There were some things that were just so innately _Mom_ that – half-Saiyan or not – would never change and my studying was one of them.

My head gave a particularly intense throb just _thinking_ about algebra and a pained hiss slipped past my lips. So maybe I wasn't quite up to it right that moment.

Mom reached out and rested a hand on my cheek. "Let's take a nap."

I nodded gratefully and we shuffled to our respective bedrooms and shut our doors.

I don't quite know how long I slept for, but all I knew when I opened my eyes was my head felt _a lot_ better. I could ignore the stubborn, dull ache and get to learning one of the last few chapters of my algebra textbook like Mom wanted.

Absently sweeping the area with my senses, I realized Mom wasn't in the house. Expanding outwards, I felt her outside near Dad's favorite fishing spot, her energy relaxed and low, likely deep in meditation.

Cracking open the thick textbook on my desk and turning a chunk of pages to the end, I got to work. With my elbow on my desk and my face rested in my palm, my pencil scratched away as I worked through the different problems, and read through the explanations next to each equation in my book.

About an hour later, I had just reached the stage of working through additional problems without the use of the step-by-step instructions when I felt a big power spike and very nearby and I was instantly on my feet, knocking over my chair in the process.

My eyes narrowed as I instinctively expanded my senses in search of Mom. With expanding my senses, the sensitivity was higher and identifying that other power was easy…

My eyes bulged and I was _sure_ I was imagining things. I shook myself. Sometimes I felt substantial surges of Dad's power very far away and I was sure he was training – wherever he was. That _had_ to have been it. I was just sensing another surge.

Only issue was, none were ever quite that _clear._ Distance made sensing him a little bit fuzzy, like listening to a radio not quite tuned to a channel. Sensing him right then… it was like he was… _right there._

I darted to my window and threw it open, and then leaped out of it, flying as fast as I could toward where I sensed him. If I was just being foolish, then I was being foolish. But I didn't care. Either way, I _had_ to find out because there was no way I'd be able to focus on algebra until I confirmed that I was just imagining things.

After a minute of flight, _I saw him_.

There he was: just walking out of a cave with Mom! He looked up at me and smiled and I didn't bother fighting my tears as I rammed into him at full speed, tackling him to the ground and broke down, reduced to uncontrollable sobs. He locked his arms around me and rubbed my back as I choked out endless, nearly incoherent apologies for costing him his life in the fight against Cell with my face pressed into his chest.

His only response was to tighten his hold on me until finally, my sobs were reduced to hiccups and he pulled me up with him. I lifted my face off his chest and stared up at him, my vision blurry from my tears. I wasn't willing to pull away from him completely, so I latched my arms around one of his. I was afraid to pull away from him completely. Afraid to even blink. I was afraid he'd disappear. He stared down at me with a small, loving smile and I smiled the brightest smile I had for two whole months as Mom looked on.

Out of the blue, a massive dinosaur-like roar flushed every bird for miles around, loud enough to echo around the mountains. I laughed. I laughed because Dad was back. I laughed at his stomach. And I laughed at how he rubbed the back of his neck and laughed because he laughed. I couldn't believe Dad was really back!


End file.
